Tanzanian secondary education

[Beekeeper1]

Good afternoon - I am seeking some words of wisdom and sage advice from anyone who has present or past experience of secondary education in Tanzania. A long shot, I know, but I am in need of any glimmer of hope!

In a nutshell, due to currently unresolveable visa issues, my partner and her daughter, who I adore and dote on, have had to return to their home country of Tanzania, from the UK.

Her daughter (14) is an exceptionally clever and talented young woman (although, of course I am biased and would say that!), was doing brilliantly in the UK education system, a very academic student, very highly regarded by her teachers and incredibly self disciplined with regard to home study and improvement in her own perceived weak areas - she speaks seven languages, four of them self taught!

They have been back in Tanzania for 8 weeks now and she has been out of school for that period of time. A disaster! Her mother is not currently in employment and I (still in the UK) am only in employment paying very little above National Living Wage so we simply cannot afford to pay private school fees in Tanzania. We do not want her to go to a basic school where the students, if they are lucky, may have one text book between a dozen of them and possibly not even pencils or paper to write with. She is educating herself at home, but, bearing in mind she wishes to win scholarships to Oxford or Cambridge for her Baccalaureate and Masters degrees, followed by Harvard for her PhD, just like her mum, she needs to follow the GCSE, A Level or Cambridge curriculums. These are only available in Tanzanian private schools, from what I can gather. Although I speak Swahili and have done what research I can, I have come up against a brick wall - the only school which I have found offering bursaries or scholarships is the SEGA girls school in Morogoro, run by the 'Nurturing minds' charity.

This has turned into a big nutshell, my apologies! But I am desperate to try and facilitate her education, and ANY advice or guidance from those with knowledge or experience would be more than gratefully received. Thank you

Have you looked at education NGOs based in Tanzania? They’re probably your best bet.

Will her visa issues stop her returning to the U.K. to study? Worth looking into this sooner rather than later. If you can’t afford school fees in Tanzania, how will she afford tuition and living costs at university? She won’t be able to access student finance.

Can she access Oakfield Academy l or whatever it's called - the bbc/govt sites for lockdown learning? Would seem esp helpful if she wants to re enter uk education system at some point.

@PastAndPizzaPlease thank you for your response - it is her mum, my partner, who is having visa issues, her daughter will hopefully be able to come as an independant adult on a Tier4 student visa, once she is 18, and she aims to win scholarships from the Commonwealth Scholarship Committee for her tuition fees as an International Student. She is more than capable of doing so - her mum won scholarships for all three of her degrees, so we know that it is an achievable aspiration. I would help, in any way I can, with living expenses and provide her with a home for vacation accomodation

Thank you @keiratwicenightly, I will investigate this too - she has internet access, but it can be slightly unstable and unreliable - we play online chess together and she tutors me in Swahili, but we often lose connection!
Thank you for your response, it is appreciated

Oak Academy is worth a look for online courses - but she might also want to have a look at the Harrow School Online Courses for A-levels (100% Bursaries available).

I'm originally from another African country, so this may be irrelevant... Many good schools in my country are Catholic schools. All are private as state schools cannot be attached to a religion, but private doesn't automatically mean super expensive as it does here. Obviously it would really help to be Catholic, but even if you're not it might be worth contacting them? As religious based schools, most have a wider "mission" ethos and so might be more open to helping than a traditional private school would be.
Good luck to you all, sounds like a really difficult position.

Just a thought, but what about UWC? They do scholarships for the older years - not sure about the younger years.

www.uwcea.org/admissions/

@Beenthere279 - thank you so much. Yes, they are Catholic and you are quite correct, most of the Tanzanian private schools are Catholic.Her mother went to one herself. I am desperate to try and help - her education and future are our priority at the moment. We can, hopefully, resolve the visa issues at a later date, but it is imperative that we somehow keep her in mainstream education. Thank you to everyone for the kind responses so far, all food for thought.

@rainexpectedsoon - very useful link, thank you. Grandmother lives near Moshi, aunts live in Arusha and my partner was born in Moshi, although now living in Dar. Very useful, thank you so much